Choice
by StaminaRose
Summary: A weird Fiction, of a strange pairing. A JinxRorekRaven fiction, set some time after SpellBound. On hold
1. The Broken Empath Shall Weep

**IMPORTANT:** This Fiction is unlikely to be updated for a long while, though i would love to hear people's opinions just on the first chapter. I am essentially posting this so one day i shall be forced to finish it. In all honestly i am not expecting much interest, but at the same time i have enjoyed writing this far more than anything for a while. I also may edit this chapter at a later date.

**Disclaimer'd!!: **None of the characters portrayed in this fiction are owned by me, because I'm a dirty dirty Otaku thief. I'm committing crimes on the same scale as genocide right now by using them without permission, and I promise their owner that if he/she wishes I will perform a sexual act on them to make up for the disgusting way I've started caring enough about their characters to write about them. Its despicable it really is, my showing interest in a show and possibly causing people to go out and pay for DVDs or merchandise, if you're reading you should track me down and hack me to death with an ice pick.

Ahem well that concludes the disclaimer.

Ok, so the whole starting point for this fiction was the idea that whilst people do make fictions of Rorek, they all seemed to be doing him oddly. He's charming to the point of creepy (not at all just Malchior doing whatever he can to escape), massively underpowered (this guy fought a Dragon to stalemate single-handedly) and insanely innocent for someone who apparently mastered the dark arts (at least enough to have every dark book ever written inside a magical portal in his journal). So I decided to write him how I'd think he'd be based more on his journal and his appearance.

In other words, break out the Chainsaw and we'll all head to Texas. (Only joking! He's still gonna be fairly normal, just a bit darker).

To explain this fiction, as well as the main story there will also be extracts from Rorek's diary, some of which will explain plot points, and some which will just help set his character up. Also, you're gonna have to take things as I give them, as I may be representing things differently than they are given. For example, I'm keeping Terra inside the statue, waiting to be released, and I may have to move around the order of events to fit (I'm not checking the episode guide every time I want to write something).

This story starts off a bit odd, because there's very little actual dialogue at first (its kinda impossible with the current situation) so you'll have to wait a while for me to get some proper writing on. Should start next chapter or so.

* * *

**1st Entry: **

_Writing a journal was something that occurred to me not so long ago. All great wizards have taken it upon themselves to write at least a small summary of their lives, so i decided to do the same. So that perhaps future magic users seeking guidance may read and hopefully have their problems solved, learn about my life, or at least have a somewhat amusing read. However, i have a very roundabout sense of writing, so it will probably take a while for you to glean anything entirely useful._

_I have defeated Dragons. Real Dragons, unlike the weak members of the species that occasionally show up, whom hardly deserve the capital D that they are usually given, and whom many armed with little more than a broadsword have slaughtered. I still remember the first real Dragon I ever defeated, not too long ago, but it seems like decades (that, and my memory is not excellent)._

_I rode back to Mullingstone victorious, the Elemental Dragon Glacies defeated, icy blood bottled out of my curiosity for an old legend I was planning on testing soon. Though the villagers had summoned me from many miles away to destroy the elemental Dragon who had plagued them, I found my arrival back at the town to be an uncelebrated event, and my payment difficult to extract. It was always the same wherever I went, I soon found. I would be called by a distant mayor to destroy a Dragon, or a Succubus, or lift an undead curse, something of the sort anyway. Yet when I had done the task they had begged of me my purpose was fulfilled, and they wanted nothing to do with me that didn't involve flames. It was villages with a mentality just like this one who had killed many of my colleagues before me. _

_The people of this age are hypocrites you must understand, they scream of devils whenever magical ability is shown, and spout religious nonsense and idiocies. Indeed, they even call on Priests whose only distinguishing trait is the ability to indoctrinate young & old alike, just to try and drive their evil spirits out. I have dealt with this mentality many times since my birth, and many times they have tried to deal with me. Fortunately I have always been strong enough to stop them, unlike a few of my poor brothers and sisters in magic. Many of who had no crimes beyond knowing how to mix herbs or undo the simplest hex. Obviously, this angers me._

_I suppose you must know to fully understand how bad this is, the fact that I am one who is always in control of my emotions, a deeply needed act to protect others from my sorcery. For to let my feelings go for even a minute means that at the smallest pang of annoyance or anger my powers would snap a mans neck at a hundred paces. This happened many times when I was a small child._

_The first time I came across such behaviour I was far younger, but I find time changes very little for me, so I think I would have done the same even now. A miniscule village was burning a girl of no more than eight for magical abilities beyond the comprehension of one her age. Her mother had apparently died in some tragic circumstance or another, and the village had taken it upon themselves to blame the girl because she had a strangely shaped birthmark on her wrist. Though I do not recall the exact shape. _

_As soon as I arrived I knew she was not skilled in Magic, in all fairness she probably wasn't even literate. I was able to keep my anger under control long enough to inform the villagers of this, and when they claimed I was to be killed with her I decided to do to them what they wished to do to the girl, and promptly burned the place to the ground. Happily the girl was adopted by a family who were unable to conceive in my home village, so everything worked out. _

_Some would claim my actions to be wholly virtuous, others would claim my acts were born only of revenge, and I only saved the girl as I remembered the troubles my childhood brought for someone who was truly gifted in magic. I have no idea which of the two is correct, and I don't really care. _

_So reader, be warned as you delve into this book. For the tales you have just started reading show my good deeds and my bad, and both are in equal measure. I will leave it to you to decide what moral alignment to pin to me , but personally I prefer to go without such things. One day perhaps I will meet a person who is similar to me, who walks the knife edge between the two choices, but it has often been said in jest that even if I did find such a person,_

_I would likely be forced out of profession to kill them. _

-_ Rorek of Noll_

* * *

Rorek stood, for the first time without continuous effort to control his book. Malchior had been stupid enough to attempt an escape, and now he was of insufficient power to fight for control of the spell book, leaving Rorek solely in charge. He himself was weakening, he admitted, the escape attempt had sapped much of his own power as he had been forced to pour more in to help whomever resealed the Dragon. Foolish, to try and use a high level and ancient curse on what was obviously their first time attempting any such spell. But he definitely still had some power, even after that.

And now, there was an opening. For years all that had kept him in the book was the fact that Malchior would get out too. Since the day he had sealed both himself and his opponent inside, that fact tormented him. But now, Malchior was too weakened to escape for a long while. He had been waiting for this mistake for over a thousand years, picking up knowledge, summoning books, writing books even, training his mind and honing his skills inside the magical dimension. And now, he would finally be free of this self inflicted prison, and explore this new world. Then, he would finish his quest, fight Malchior, and find out what had been happening in the last thousand years.

He would be free.

* * *

Raven sat in down on her bed and sighed. It was her personal time, ordinarily she used it for reading but lately she just couldn't read anything. Malchior's trickery had ended only a week before, and she almost constantly found herself in a state of depression. Never before had she had anyone call her beautiful, never before had anyone tried to love her, and when she realised it was all just a lie she had been devastated.

For a long time she had read about this incredible wizard from long ago, and the loneliness had sang out from her heart at the thought that once, somewhere, someone had been like her. It was a great comfort to a person who believed themselves alone in the world. To know the thoughts of a person, a male her age no less, who walked between light and dark, who had only a few - if very close - friends (though sadly, Rorek seemed to attend more funerals than parties), yet was not understood even by them. Who shrouded himself in mystery to protect all around him, and to shield himself from the prying eyes of others.

Now she'd never be able to finish the book, she'd never know how it ended, not after all the bad memories it brought. That just wasn't fai_r, _it had been a really good read.

A knock at her door brought her from her thoughts, and she slowly rose to greet the intruder to her sanctum.

* * *

Many spells are extremely complex. Others, not so. For some, undoing the most complex spells require only a push in the right direction before they unravel at the magician's leisure.

This was not one of those spells.

It was not delicate. It was not precise. It was powerful, and that was all it was. So powerful it drained almost all of the Caster's magical energy - just to open a portal big enough to squeeze through.

Rorek knew he was probably considered among the greatest wizards of all time, so much he was granted the title of Sorcerer, a title not lightly given. It was because of this great ability that he was able to escape almost entirely unharmed, keeping all of his limbs, digits and manhood on his exit. A feat many others would not have accomplished.

"Oh… bloody hell."

The 80 foot fall onto hard jagged stone however, would require something more than skill to survive unharmed. Wings would be very good for starters.

Rorek was not in possession of these assets, and did not have the power left to fly, so when he landed he broke his leg, three ribs and was struck unconscious before he could finish counting the rest. Probably a good thing, considering it would give him something to do when he woke up.

* * *

Raven flinched as she stood to open the door, a loud voice penetrating the steel. o

"Hey Raven! You in there?" obviously he had become worried since she hadn't answered straight away.

"I'm here Robin." She opened the door. There the boy wonder stood in all his glory. Robin, the only other sensible person around. Seriously, everyone else was one step away from needing Ritalin. "Do you need something?"

"No, it's just… you haven't really come out of your room since…"

"Since I was betrayed and almost eaten by a Dragon pretending to be a wizard?" Blunt, it should have been her middle name, Robin couldn't help thinking.

"Yeah."

"Do you think there's something unusual about that?"

"…" The edge in Raven's voice warned him against saying anything to upset her.

"For a naturally quiet and reclusive person to want some time alone after a…" Raven was going to say break up, but that really didn't describe what had happened. "Betrayal. You think that's odd?"

"Well… a week of solitude is pretty odd. And... I have no idea what you're eating."

"I go out at night for food."

"I see..." Robin said all his words carefully, like he was trying to calm a gunman. "Raven?"

"Yes?"

"That seems like its going beyond the realm of wanting time to yourself. Its more like social isolation. I mean, what do you do in there?"

"I do enough."

"That isn't an answer."

"We can discuss this later." Raven shut the door, but it couldn't cut off the last sentence.

"You'll have to come out soon."

"Maybe that's so. But for now I'll stay."

* * *

Rorek woke up and groaned. Typical, just typical. He was supposed to emerge somewhere near the book, but it had never occurred to him someone could be keeping it in a tower. He looked up from the ground. It was a stupidly shaped tower at that, unsound structure and a ridiculous amount of glass. In a battle it would be easily taken. The shape of a T, the architect must have been insane. One catapult, or whatever they used now, would knock the whole thing down. Not like his old tower. That particular building could, and had, survived countless sieges. and firing a catapult at it was like trying to attack a bear armed soley with a very small kitten, in a bag.

The pain was nothing compared to the disappointment he felt for his pitiful re-emergence into the world, especially the first words he had chosen to utter. In fact, the pain made him feel pretty good. The fact he could feel everything individually assured him he was still in one piece. The novelty of feeling pain again would soon wear off, and though he had always had a high tolerance of it, he knew he'd have to heal himself, or risk inconvenient consequences. Like Death, for instance.

Rorek tried to sit up and found himself bending far too easily for his liking, and then found out why. The large piece of armour he usually wore had been vaporised in its use as a magical conduit, though happily the metal gloves and shoes remained. They did a fantastic job of stopping the broken bones in his limbs moving around too much. He had bought two sets of armour from the same blacksmith a long time ago, keeping the other pair as a spare. But the odds of it still being around after so long were next to none. It was a shame, both sets had been made especially for him, and enchanted by a few of his close friends as a gift. Rorek smiled under his cloak. That had been his birthday, probably one of the few he had happy memories of, the combined cause of this being common murders of his friends, and the repeated blows to the head by Dragons.

Expending so much energy on the portal had prevented him from using any sort of spells on the way down, and flight had been out of the question. But now hours had passed, and his energy had recovered just enough for him to repair some of the worst damage that had been done. The wizard was covered with a soft white glow, which he hoped wouldn't be visible to whomever lived in that tower.

Once he was healed enough he'd need to get off this strange island. On his current power he could not hope to fight Malchior, and if he waited around to regenerate it there was a high likelihood of Malchior locking on to such a familar power signature and leeching excess energy from him. If that happened, the other being's power would return far more quickly than his ever could, and he would escape from the book easily. If a fight broke out between them, the Dragon's natural strength would easily overpower whatever energy he had managed to scrape together by then.

Yes, he would have to escape, but this was easier said than done. Unfortunately, a quick scouting of the area showed the island did not seem to hold bridges or boats of any kind, and he presumed only the Tower's inhabitants would know how to escape.

He would have to find a way of getting that information from them.

* * *

Raven was meditating, or at least, she was trying to. But for now she could not clear her minds of her thoughts and instead was left with wondering why exactly she had sent Robin away. She was always a lonely person, for even in her homeland she was considered weird, and eventually it had become her habit to drive others away. It made sense, no one could possibly understand her situation, so why bother letting them try?

So whenever anyone offered comfort they would be sent away, even when she wanted it. It was cruel to her friends, whom always tried to include her. Robin was the worst of them all, he didn't encourage her to do things he knew she'd hate, he did one worse than that. He asked her to do things she'd enjoy, he wanted her to have fun and he knew how to accomplish it. Which made saying no even more painful.

He didn't seem to understand that she couldn't have emotions. They controlled her powers. The only ones that _didn't _seem to explode everything around her were the more sombre emotions like loneliness, sorrow, guilt. And even these occasionally manisfested themselves as some sort of strange illusions from time to time. She told him again and again, but he just carried on clueless, like if they were with good intentions it wouldn't matter.

Yes, it was true. She was being harassed by a handsome, athletic and intelligent young man in tights. That was more proof of her differences to normal people. She was pretty sure most girls would murder at the drop of a hat for that chance.

"_Calling all Titans, we have an intruder inside the Tower. Meet at the main room." _Robin's voice called over intercom, and Raven stood up slowly, not wanting to see her friends yet. A part of her mind thought perhaps Robin was making it up simply to get her out of her room, but she knew he wouldn't do something like that.

With a sigh, she opened the door and walked to her doom.

* * *

The other Titans made a really big show of not being surprised when she walked through the door and sat down on the couch. But being an empath she could see through it almost immediately. Raven was glad everyday she wasn't a telepath instead, emotions were one thing but constantly knowing what people were thinking? It would probably drive her insane. It was a good thing powerful telepaths were rare.

"Is it the H.I.V.E.?" She asked. It had been a while since the H.I.V.E. Five had shown up, they weren't even performing their usual petty crimes, so the Titans had automatically assumed them to be planning something.

"If it is, they got a new member." Beast Boy told her. She turned her attention to the Monitor screen in the middle of the room, and saw a looping black and white video. It showed someone in a long dark cloak looking upwards at the camera. The picture was far too blurry to make out anything apart from the fact he (or possibly she considering the long white hair) seemed to have his face covered by something. The figure's eyes began to glow and he flicked his hand at the camera, a bolt of energy being sent into it and smashing it. The camera fell at an angle, its screen broken, but they were still able to see the figure walk off and then disappear into thin air.

"And only the cameras have seen him?" If Raven was surprised at the way the intruder had vanished in front of them, she didn't show it to the other Titans.

"Yeah. He's moving around too much for a visual, and im not even sure going outside is a good idea." Robin replied, glad that she was being her strong self again. Even if it was her emotionless self. "He set off one of the laser trip wires, since then he's been disappearing and reappearing every where. One minute he's at one side of the Tower, the next he's behind it."

"Why would he not wish to come in?" Starfire asked.

"He's trying to lure us out. Its obvious. That's why Robins so uncomfortable with leaving the Tower." Cyborg stated quietly, already annoyed about how many of his cameras were being destroyed. "I say we go out and teach him what happens."

"Isn't that just what he wants?" Beast Boy cocked his head. "Seems kinda dumb to just go out there."

"We'll have to. Who knows what damage he could do if we don't confront him." Raven said. Robin stayed silent, thinking of a plan.

"Ok, split up and position yourselves around the tower. If whoever this is shows up, try and signal the others and stop him leaving."

* * *

The tower's occupants had come outside, and split up. Just as he thought they would, though there were far less than he had been expecting out of this fortress. Oh well, divide and conquer worked with any amount of people, except one of course. Except what he needed was not to defeat them, he needed information. His primitive invisibility spells were limited by his current strength, but he could still run circles around them until he got an opportunity to read their minds.

With the speed he was going they probably thought his disappearing act was teleportation, he was being surprisingly swift, especially with such an injured leg.

The first one he met was a teenage boy green, covered head to toe in green fur. He had not noticed him sneak up behind to study him, and he was in a perfect place for his telepathy. But at his weakened state there would have to be close physical contact in order for the mind probe to work, and with this one he would rather not. It wasn't his appearance as such, he had met many strange looking things in his time and this was not the worst, nor was it even particularly unpleasant. But he had only thought of one way of getting one of them to touch him without struggling too much as he read their mind, and… he did not wish to try it on a male.

He was ok with a lot of things, including giving understanding to people who were born that way inclined, but he himself was not going to do that when there were at least two females he could try the trick on.

"Yes. Just one kiss, and I will have what I need." The sentence slipped out before he could stop himself, and the green furry boy turned around and screamed at the top of his lungs before realising nothing was there. Or rather, nothing that he could see.

Oh well, onto the next one.

* * *

"_Anyone seen him yet?" _Raven heard Robin ask over the communicator. So far it had been quiet, adding credence to the theory that all the intruder wanted was to lure them outside.

"_Nope, checking the training ground now and he's not here. Few more smashed cameras though." _Cyborg remarked angrily.

"_I'm behind the tower. I… thought I heard something before. But apart from that nothing." _Beast Boy reported.

"_I have taken position on the roof to look for him. I cannot see anything unusual." _Starfire said.

There was a long expectant pause, which culminated in Robin's hesitant voice.

"_Raven? Its your turn to report." _She rolled her eyes, though they couldn't see it and was about to answer when something caught her eye. The dark dressed girl would have bet money that she had just seen the air in front of her move. Almost like the haze things got when it was hot. But here it was approaching midnight, far too cold for that.

"Hang on a second." She continued to stare, and again she saw the haze in front of her. It looked like light was being bent in thin air. She stared for several minutes, unsure of what to do.

"_Urm… Raven? I said its your turn." _When she reached out to push her finger through the illusion, she hit something hard. And then a voice seemed to echo around her.

"Yes, yes it is." She froze at the voice, which sounded so incredibly similar to one that had betrayed her.

_"Who the crap is that?"_

She could only stand there wide eyed, as the blur leant in and kissed her firmly.

* * *

Rorek had looked over each one of the inhabitants. One, a green fuzzy… thing. Two, a agile looking teenager in oddly coloured clothing. Three, a heavy set dark skinned man with machines grafted to him. Four, a scantily clad woman who had been flying around out of his reach. And lastly, the one he saw before him. She had frozen from his sudden speech, but he decided not to turn his cloak off. It would be easier to keep it on. Over her communicator her allies questioned his arrival, and there was no doubt they would arrive soon. This would have to be quick.

Moving closer, she came into focus and he almost gasped. Porcelain skin covered with a dark robe, and two eyes that were fearful of his presence, but which still held conviction. She was very pretty, if somewhat different looking from the normal peasant females he was used to dealing with. If anything, she looked like one of the females who used to learn magic from various Wizards back before he had sealed himself inside the book. Reaching out, Rorek found he could feel her magical power easily, confirming suspicions.

Oh well, it would only make it slightly harder to extract information. He leant in, and with only some reluctance, kissed her firmly. As the surprise mingled in her mind, all mental barriers fell down and he was able to reach into her knowledge, never going further than the most basic things. Working on a power driven time limit, he sucked out all the basic knowledge that she deemed most valuable and stored it for later use. However, his scientific personality couldn't help but sneak a peak into some of it. Light switches, the internal combustion engine, automatic doors, microwaves. Such an odd assortment of things her mind assured him was vital.

Clothing styles had presumably changed, yet this girl was going against the definitions of her gender by not being concerned by fashions, and thus any knowledge of that was minimal at best. Yet she enjoyed such things as 'Horror Movies', which as far as he could ascertain were moving pictures about people being killed in disturbingly graphic (and quite impressively inventive) ways.

Entertainment had come a long way from when he had been around, that was for sure.

* * *

Primarily Raven was an empath, a sensor of emotions. However she was not completely insensitive to telepathy, and so she could tell what this person was doing. Sucking out her knowledge, even if it was useless basic stuff. Obviously he was powerful if he could do this whatever his strength, but she could feel how weak he was at the moment. He was in urgent need of rest to recover his powers. Meaning she should have been able to push him off and defeat him.

But she couldn't. From the moment she heard the voice, the charming but reserved British accent she was so familiar with, she could not move. It had to have been a trick, him reaching into her mind and pulling out a memory that would subdue her, but even so… she could not tell her body to move using only that logic. And as much as she would have liked to have fooled herself, this kiss was more than enjoyable.

It was after all, her first.

* * *

The moment he had heard that voice, Robin had sprinted for Raven's position on front of the tower. Other Titans were following he knew, but so far the only one that had caught up had been Cyborg.

"There she is!" towards his long time friend and drove a kick to the shimmer standing in front of her, far more visible with Cyborg shining a light on it. It had almost looked like the two were… kissing though.

His foot connected and the intruder was thrown away roughly, only to land a few meters away. Whatever camouflage he had been using failed, and Robin found himself looking at a teenager, only a few years his senior. They froze looking at him as Raven fell to one knee, trying to recover her wits from what she convinced herself was only a side effect from the mind probing, and not from the kiss.

They had seen a lot of weird looking people in their careers. But this one was high on the list. Skin even whiter than Ravens only exposed across the top of his face, everything else covered by a dark black cloak and a black scarf which might have been attached. A long mane of white hair fell down his shoulders and two eyes poked out from above the scarf. So lightly coloured they could have been glowing, with the unsettling feeling they were doing more than just seeing like normal eyes did.

"You would be a fool to attack me again." The voice didn't seem to actually come from him, rather it seemed to echo around them. Like a ventriloquist's voice might be thrown. Robin would have wondered why this was, but was too absorbed in staring.

"What did you do to Raven jerk?" Cyborg shouted at him, his arm cannon opening.

"Yeah!" Robin took out one of his boomerangs. "If you've hurt her I swear I'll -"

"I have don't nothing to your Maiden, not compared to what I shall do to you." He interrupted. Slowly one hand was brought up, and as his eyes began to glow brilliant white, a ball of energy formed in his palm. His opponents moved back and braced to dodge the energy bolt. Rorek moved his arm back to throw it, before it crackled and began to die as he realised he didn't have enough power to use it.

"Looks like someone ran out of juice. Luckily I've got plenty of power." Cyborg brought his gun up to aim it.

"Ah, but what is having that power, if you cannot see anything to aim it at?" The wizard brought the still crackling hand in front of him, and covered his eyes with his other arm.

"Wha-" Was the only thing Cyborg could get in before the world exploded into white as the magic discharged as light instead. Sound remained however, and the two easily heard the intruder running past them, before the door to the tower was opened and he ran inside.

* * *

Rorek followed the girl's mental map subconsciously, angry at himself for trying to take on an enemy when so weakened. Cloaking came quite easily to him, even the telepathy was easy, but he had spent almost all his recovered power on healing himself, and there hadn't been much of that to start. Still, he was lucky he was able to use the energy bolt as a distraction, even if he was unable to use it for a weapon.

According to that girl, there were only a small number of ways to get off the island. But it seemed the tunnel at the base of the tower was his best bet. It had a number of vehicles in it, he would rather run but his leg would be permanently damaged if he kept up such athletic endeavours for now. So he would have to use the woman's limited knowledge and figure out how to drive one of them when he got down there.

The mental map lead him into a small room, and for a moment he had no idea why it had. He was taking the route she would have taken, as the map allowed him to travel this place like it was his own home. However, he did not know the layout exactly, and had to rely on instinct to guide him. For example, he knew it was on Basement Floor 2, but he had no idea where that was. However, if he wished to get there, he would simply need to follow what felt right and he would turn up.

Blinking lights caught his attention and he looked to them. They were simply numbers. However, where 0 should have been there was instead G, and where minus numbers might be there were only B1, B2, B3 and B4.

With a raised eyebrow he touched the one that said B2 and the door behind him closed. Then he felt the room begin to move downwards.

"What is wrong with using stairs? The people of today are most lazy." His eye twitched as cruel realisation found its way into his mind, and his voice came out bitter and sarcastic. "Oh excellent, I sound like my grandfather. What joy."

* * *

"Friends? Why do you partake in the funny dancing at a time like this?"

"Star? I think they're having seizures…" Beast Boy pushed his foot into Robin, who was writhing around on the floor like he was trying to put out a fire on his back.

"Beast Boy?" He asked from the floor.

"Are you ok man? Stop moving around so much."

"I can't help it! I can't see a thing and my eyes are killing me!" Beast Boy looked to the other Titans, Cyborg was doing much the same as Robin, but Raven simply sat there, her eyes closed tightly.

"He's trying to escape. I think he's gone down to the garage. We'll catch up when his blind trick wears off." Raven told them.

"Very well. Come Beast Boy, we must capture him." Starfire flew into the building, barely giving Beast Boy time to run after her.

* * *

Ok. Vehicles had definitely changed. Not that he had ever used them, but every so often a new book would wash up into the magical library stored inside his journal, and he would be able to see something of the modern world. The last time something pertaining to transport had arrived was over a hundred years ago and from then the only similarity appeared to be that people still used wheels.

The… car he believed it was called now, was polished grey metal, with blue patterns done across it. He definitely wasn't going to take _that_, he'd be far too worried about its large size. On the other hand, the only other vehicle seemed to be a voice activated two wheel machine, painted red and looking very unfriendly to a learner driver. Plus the key his newly acquired knowledge informed him started the grey and blue car was right inside it.

So yes, on second thoughts, he would take it.

Rorek got inside the car and sat in front of the wheel. Next he put in the keys and turned them. The machine started up and lights began to blink at him, most of them labelled with nonsense terms he didn't understand. However, a few experiments informed him that he didn't ever want to press any again, because almost every one did something he didn't like, and all of them something he didn't need.

Like the mysteriously labelled 'CD Player' which seemed at first to translate into 'Supersonic enemy deafening device' but which he then deciphered into 'Bad Music played at stupidly high volumes'. If this was what everyone listened to today he would rather take his own life now. The lyrics had started out as such:

_I like big butts and I can not lie  
You other brothers can't deny  
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist  
And a round thing in your-_

It was at this point he had driven his fist through it. It died, but he would have preferred it to have suffered for the atrocities it had committed to normal sound.

"People today don't know music it seems." His brow furrowed with annoyance. "Excellent." The voice was bitter and sarcastic. "Another grandfather moment to treasure. How pleasant."

"Stop right there!" He looked around to see the green furred boy and the floating woman at the rooms entrance.

"Why?" Rorek asked whilst checking over the car and familiarising himself with the layout.

"Because… Um. Star? Tell him why." The girls eyes began to glow green. A definite warning sign.

"Because he will be destroyed if he does not cease this."

"What she said."

"Well, I'm terribly sorry. But I really cannot hang about." The car started, and went from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. All they could do was stand there with their mouths open as he stole Cyborg's most precious possession. Then they realised they hadn't done anything to stop it, and shrieked.

* * *


	2. The Enlightened Wizard Shall Laugh

Ok, just cause this is here don't mean I'm regularly updating. I did this a while ago, but wanted to be sure. Anyways, reviewing would be nice and all, but don't expect any more chapters, not unless I get like eight bazillion reviews begging XD.

I really just wanted to post this because I figured the two people who reviewed should get to see something. Nice people, cant remember your names.

Again with the **Disclaimer:** Don't usually do one of these every chapter, and probably will forget. But yeah, this ain't my work. Because it's FanFiction. Remember? If I had made this series, Kyd Wykkyd would have gotten at least one episode to himself, and Rorek a return.

Now enjoy, I guess.

* * *

_**2**__**nd**__** Entry:**_

_Ugh… you read but one legend about the finer points of Dragon__'__s blood, and suddenly you find yourself in an obsession. Oh well, I have searched several dozen books but hopefully I will find something yet. _

_Anyway, it strikes me that I got so wrapped up in explaining the injustices of this time that I didn't actually write much of my life. This is unfortunately my writing style, so I suppose you will simply have to bear with me in order to get any useful information. Frankly it's amazing I can write at all, my childhood was hardly a stable learning environment. _

_You see, from the moment I was born It was known I would be a great Sorcerer; other Mages were drawn to my birth simply by the magical power that emanated. That, and I soon discovered that Wizards seem to have precious little to do, so they are drawn by any spectacle that has slight interest or the possibility of trading a firework show for lunch. _

_I gather I emerged into life the usual stressful way that the unfortunate women of the world must endure (why they do it I do not know, If I was female I__'__d have beaten the male who impregnated me to death, possibly using his own child). However, I did not look the way a child usually looks. Even at birth I had the appearance I have been gifted, or perhaps cursed, with all my life. For it is true that I am an Albino, a condition that brings with it some annoying problems, though also is an outwards manifestation of my power._

_White hair is not a good sign in the minds of suspicious people, pale skin and eyes equally as so, however I might have gotten away with it lest I had not also been given the frankly bizarre birth marks._

_You should have seen my portrait at the front of the book, fighting a Dragon that we will introduce later, and you would note it looks as if I wear makeup to the sides of my eyes, but it most definelty is not. Being neither a woman nor a theatre worker I am not one for makeup, and I dislike anyone who wears it in such blatant ways. A small amount is bearable, occasionally it is somewhat enjoyable, but it had always been my belief, and remains as such to this day, that a female should try and rely more on natural looks and personality to attract someone. _

_But onwards with my Biography, with the problems being an Albino has brought it has also granted surprising advantages. It is a mark of instant recognition as a Sorcerer to see a person with white hair and a wizard__'__s garb, so other magic users respect me on sight, and my unique appearance itself seems to attract many a woman with the correct tastes, though I rarely partake in such ventures with non-magical people it is refreshing to find the occasional normal person not against talking to me. Spending too much time around Wizards can be damaging to the brain cells after all. _

_There are other lesser advantages also, for example - Oh._

_I must stop writing for now; a colleague of mine has come to teach me a new ritual. I must find the secret of this odd Dragon__'__s blood, and hopefully this one will know. Her name is apparently Sylvia or something similar, I forget._

_I suppose I will have to explain the rest of my childhood worries later on, it will probably explain my somewhat unique attributes._

- Rorek of Noll

* * *

An alarm clock was pointless to someone who's very nature attracted bad luck, so despite her planning the previous day she woke up hours after she was supposed to. To keep up energy for her constant night time missions and crimes she had adjusted her sleeping patterns so she slept more of the day. Though considering her already somewhat nocturnal nature, this wasn't that big a deal.

In a darkly coloured apartment a girl rose from her bed. Her skin was a surprisingly pale colour; however it seemed almost to have a light shade of violet embedded in it, not helped by the fact that most of her surroundings were also purple. It was not hard to see her favourite colours.

She had not yet tied her hair back in the two horn shapes she was used to, planning on a shower first. Jinx looked around the apartment and felt a pang of loneliness, the H.I.V.E. Five had not completely disbanded, rather they noticed that they seemed to do better in small crimes by themselves or in pairs, and to that end they kept separate until a larger job needed more of them where they came from all areas of the city. It had been a good choice, which had benefited them a lot and definitely helped keep the Titans from showing up so much. But still, she felt lonely not having the constant shouting and fights breaking out or the not-so-suave advances of Billy Numerous to overreact to.

Loneliness was fought off however, by the usual arrival of Kid Flash at her crimes, and her occasional defeats of him allowed time to talk for a while. Every so often he would even come by her apartment, and as they had long ago agreed to keep hostilities in work it was often fun. Last time she had even gone for Pizza with him, her first 'sort of a date' ever provided you didn't count the time See-More and Kyd Wykkyd had taken her to a French Restaurant on her Birthday.

Jinx stretched stepping out from the shower and putting on her clothes, her cat like grace momentarily disrupted by the struggle to get into them without pulling her flattened hair too much.

Maybe today she'd be able to meet the Titans and try and defeat them, that would cheer her up, especially another magic battle with Raven. She did so enjoy throwing fashion insults with Hex blasts.

Maybe she would rob that bank today. She'd been meaning to for a while.

* * *

Bugger, to use the correct phrase. He now knew why people always tried to discourage him from riding a horse. Being short sighted AND light sensitive meant he had to squint and close his eyes a lot, and that certainly did not mix with controlling something very fast, especially now when there were a lot of twists and turns and each one ended in a brick wall. It was quite lucky actually, upon crashing a large cushion had emerged from the car's panel and cushioned him. That certainly doesn't happen every day.

The car seemed undamaged, made out of incredible tough material, but he found he did not want to go back in now he was out of the tunnel and into the city. He would leave it there, hopefully its owners could follow the tire marks to it.

Now he was stationary for the first time in a while he could look around. Though they were blurred, he could easily see the massively tall buildings this era had brought, and he found himself annoyed. If Malchior got loose he could fly to the top of one and it would take Rorek a long time to follow him. But they looked nice, and at least the lights weren't too bright to hurt his eyes.

Thinking of lights, the roads were covered with them, presumably to light the way. They were the same light giving devices the Tower had possessed, so he guessed the candle had been fundamentally replaced by the… he searched Raven's stolen knowledge, 'light bulbs'. Also powered by electricity, like everything around now.

Good, this could at least be dimmed to a tolerable light level for him.

Rorek began to limp down the street, aware that the collision had only made his injured leg worse. If only he could find another magic user, perhaps he could leech a small amount of power. It was common for any Wizard to give off background Magic without noticing, in the same way a candle gives off heat, and many an injured or weakened Magic user had been able to survive by seeking out brethren to feed from.

Come to think of it, that dark looking girl from the Tower had had some power, but she also felt weakened, far too much to provide a sustainable amount of background energy. Perhaps she had been the one to reseal Malchior? Such a taxing spell would explain the weakness.

Oh well, for now he would just have to hope they wouldn't be able to follow the blood leaking profusely from his abused limb.

Rorek looked around for something to aim for whilst walking, and decided on one of the tallest buildings he could see.

* * *

"Um… friend Robin?" Starfire asked. _'__Robin is reacting oddly to finding his bike was not stolen. Perhaps this was normal Earth behaviour?__'_Possibly, she had experienced odd things before. Like the terrifying movies they enjoyed watching, or the fact that no one seemed to enjoy the delicious taste of Mustard for a morning drink like she did.

"I thought you'd be taken, I don't know what I'd do without you bike!"

"Dude," Beast Boy watched the spectacle with one eye brow raised. "why don't you and the bike get a room together?"

"Beast Boy, it's natural for someone to get attached to their stuff. Like me and my car." Starfire and Beast Boy went white, realising he hadn't yet noticed his pride and joy was gone. "Hey? Where is my car?""Well you see…" Cyborg's face turned to stone. The only sign of movement was his one Human eye twitching.

"He took it?"

"Yup."

"And you didn't stop him?"

"Nope." It was more a squeak than anything else.

"Did he look like a good driver?" Cyborg asked hopefully.

"When we came in he was pressing each button to find out what he was doing, and he did the seatbelt wrong." Tears were in the robotic teen's eye. Raven sighed.

"Cyborg, we can track him before he does too much damage to it. Besides, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

"It's so easy to tell you haven't ever had a car Raven." Robin told her, a look of sympathy on his face. "Let's go find him before he scratches something."

* * *

What few people were on the streets that night automatically moved to the other side of the road on seeing the figure. Head to toe in a black cloak with only a mane of white showing, limping along with its leg bleeding, it was not something anyone would go near. Ordinarily the city was full of odd villains, and they guessed he was simply another who had been injured in combat.

Rorek was on the whole unsurprised by the city. Technology had moved on as it should have, but the information of that was mostly in his head now, and people were still exactly the same. Though their clothing had changed their personalities hadn't. Had a person shown up outside a Wizard tower with a bleeding leg and a limp people would have been lining up to help, it had happened more than once. True, he didn't actually want any help and if it had been offered he would have politely declined, but still it was the principle of the thing, most people now were just turning away and pretending not to notice him.

'_So in short, Humans are bastards,__'_he mused to himself.

He walked past numerous glowing buildings he managed to distinguish as shops. Though they had apparently changed a lot, like everything else, he presumed they were still basically the same in structure and goods though and walked in, finding himself to be fairly hungry. One thousand years is something of a fast after all.

The inside of the building had white clean floors, made out of an odd material. He stalked the various aisles looking for something even vaguely appetising, but most of it seemed to be frozen and in need of heating before consumption. It was a shame he didn't have the energy to start a fire.

Finally he came across some 'Energy Bars' and curious, ripped one open to eat it. It didn't taste good - not bad - just not good. But he ate it anyway, before taking a few more and an apple he had found along with something called a 'Pot Noodle'. He looked at the packet and recognised the foodstuff, the last time he had eaten any sort of this 'Noodle' was when a Teleport spell had gone wrong and he had been forced to spend a few days in a very odd country before colleagues had brought him back. Still, learning a new language had been fun and at least he had bee able to get a good sword to fight with from a local blacksmith.

He took his new found items to the front of the store and was about to walk out when a worker stopped him.

"Excuse me, I wish to get past."

"You can't go, you haven't paid!" He was a stupid looking man. Perhaps he was new to the shopping business? He didn't appear to know the custom of giving Wizards inexpensive items free. Then again, perhaps it wasn't a custom anymore. Normally a Magic user was given free items under a certain price, as they rarely needed to actually buy more than food and clothes and the occasional enchanted armour, and in his case burn ointment. In return a shop owner was allowed to ask a wizard to help him whenever one came by, such as if his child was sick or a curse needed lifting, and on one occasion to make everyone in town think shopping at one place was a very good idea.

Still, he had a few gold coins left. They were solid gold, and that couldn't have gone out of value.

"Here." The Shop assistant watched as the strange hooded creature began to dig into a pocket, steadily bleeding on the floor. He took out something that shone gold before biting a piece off and giving it to him. It was about the size of a small nut.

"What the hell is this?" He was going to call the police if this guy didn't stop messing around, it was too late for this crap. And what was up with his voice anyway? It was like it was echoing around him instead of just being heard. Almost like it was bypassing his ears completely. That kind of thing could give you a headache. Maybe it was just the echo in the shop, but he doubted it.

"It is a piece of Gold. It should pay for these food items and the mess I have left on your floors." With that the cloaked figure walked out, his white hair moving gently in the nights wind.

"Freakin' Nut." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, determined to report it even if the 'payment' was gold. "Yeah, I'd like the police…"

* * *

Raven had decided that they could get to the mainland easily enough simply flying. She could fly herself, Starfire actually enjoyed carrying Robin, and Beast Boy's Pterodactyl form was easily enough to pick up Cyborg.

All in all it had been uncomfortable flying over the water, and very cold. Cyborg's feet had even been dipped in the water a few times, but in the end they got to where their tunnel came out.

It was immediately clear to them they should have left Cyborg at the tower. The area was a mess with skid marks on the ground and dents in walls. It was covered in smoke, still, and the cars wing mirror had been left behind, a mirror that Cyborg was currently hugging to his chest and weeping into.

"Look at the bright side." Beast Boy smiled nervously, looking at the trail of destruction that lay in front of them. "At least we won't have any problem finding the car."

"I just have to wonder what condition it'll be in." Robin said sadly. Raven sighed, wishing that she could just say it was only a car. It would be mean though, if she had spent hours writing down ingredient for a new Hex or something, and it had been destroyed, she would have been annoyed beyond belief. The Car had taken weeks, and was built as much from blood sweat and tears as it was steel.

"Come on Titans, we have to catch this guy." The Superheroes ran, or flew, following the flames and tire marks on the road. A hole through a stop sign showed them where a missile had been fired, probably accidentally, and terrified pedestrians recounted what an awful driver had almost killed them.

When they finally tracked the car down Cyborg was one step away from being an emotional wreck. It wasn't just that he had an overly unhealthy obsession with cars, as most males do, in the same way that most females have the unhealthy obsession with buying shoes. He had built that car over weeks, and used his own circuit boards and designs in its construction. There was even the option, that at some point the car could have Artificial Intelligence put in. In short, the car was like a baby to him.

In other circumstances he might have been proud when he saw his car. It had been put through a brick wall, and barely sustained any damage. But then he saw what had been done to the paint job, and his heart shattered. Revenge would be had, if it took one hundred years.

* * *

The Sorcerer stopped for a moment, deciding where to go next. Again, his energy had recharged to some degree, but he needed to sleep as soon as possible before anything useful would come from it.

Rorek looked around, and noted a small garden that had for some reason been built in front of one of the large towering buildings. He noted the presence of some seats, apparently permanently left outside, in there as well. After a few seconds of thought he guessed they were for the people who populated this building in day to go out for fresh air, a pleasant idea. And if they only needed them at day, what was to stop him sleeping on one for a while? Hopefully he would wake up with some amount of energy, and then could proceed to figure out a plan.

Despite this complex thought pattern, the real thing going on in his mind was _'I do hope they are comfortable.' _And any reasoning was pointless, because no matter what he was going to sleep on one. With a long groan, he sat down on the closest seat, and carefully lifted his injured leg up to it. With a comfortable sigh, he laid his head back and pulled his cloak around him for more warmth.

"This is fantastic… I'm in Heaven." He purred to himself. Sleeping on the ground was about as comfortable, but when you haven't had a real sleep for over ten decades, it really doesn't matter where you drop.

* * *

Damn, so close to ten thousand words.


	3. The Threatened Witch Shall Grin

Another chapter, great aren't I? I had a bit of time left over, and I got writers block in another fiction, so I decided to finish this one, the beginning I did a while back. All in all, I've read this same journal thing about eighty-five times, which is why I'm now sick of this damn chapter XD.

Anyways, enjoy. And I know that, at first, Jinx will seem to be heading to spend more time with Rorek than Raven. This will be the truth for the beginning of the fiction, but don't worry. It will even out in the end. I'm kina interpreted in seeing who the people will want to see him ending up with actually, bearing in mind neither will be heartbroken really.

Oh, P.S. for all your gits who alerted or favourited and DIDN'T REVIEW, I'm not exactly a review whore or anything, but come on! How do you favourite something like that and not pop in a quick 'like the fiction, Rorek is cool' or 'Yay, I hope you update soon' or my personal favourite 'I want you to have my children, let me cover you in hot chocolate and we shall play ''til the morning light!'.

Ahem. On with the fiction.

* * *

**3****rd**** entry:**

_It should be said right now I was not born in Noll, though that is often told and I give my home village as such. I was in fact born some distance away, to parents who were probably at least well meaning, if not particularly bright. You see the first thing they did on seeing my strange appearance was summon the town elder and Priest. A man so overrated as to be considered a wise man on all subjects, even those he had no education on. People often point out to me he was at least smart enough to ascertain I had great magical potential. Equally I often point out that when 50 or so Wizards show up on someone's lawn ( smoking and firing light spells at one another I might add) right after an unusual looking baby is born it takes a very special kind of mind to come to another conclusion. _

_Anyway, after those wizards had left he voiced his deep seated concern that I would grow up magical, and that somehow having incredible miraculous and godly power was a bad thing (though at least he was wise enough to wait until the wizards had left to say this, I shall concede that much). My parents were said to agree almost instantly, having half the common sense of granite and being thrice as dense. He reasoned that to stop me from becoming a wizard, they would have to cut something out. Oh there was an ample choice of body parts, yes - eyes, tongue, ears. It seemed odd that the circumcision thing priests love to do so much didn't come up in the conversation, though I am happy every day for that, if someone wants to be cut up in their most important places they can go ahead, but I certainly do not._

_But I digress. Where was I… ah yes, all in all a very 'sharp' motif going for me. Yes, there we have it, I am but a day old and already some idiot is trying to maim me. _

_His reasoning was that if I couldn't read spell books I wouldn't be able to learn spells. So eyes were a good choice. Thank goodness I was one of the few in history who had a sane grandfather around for a change. He pointed out that making me blind would essentially stop be from working ever, and kill me. The Wiseman suggested the ears, not hearing a spell said would surely impede progress. My Grandfather pointed out it would impede things like communication and learning language. Next up, the tongue, as if I could not say a spell I would not be able to cast complex magic. Again Grandfather cut in and stopped them with his wisdom, telling them I wouldn't be able (with the inability to kiss) to ever find a partner or even taste , and that would just be annoying. _

_I often wondered why the old man didn't stop it altogether, or why he didn't choose to object to the final option. Their solution was so diabolically devious I occasionally think he himself may have thought of it._

_You see, to stop me becoming a wizard they knew the stopping me speaking spells was a winning idea, but since the tongue was a bad choice, they went one better. It turns out, that if you have a perverse amount of skill in the area, you can slice the throat in such a way that the vocal cords are cut out but the windpipe is not. Though I truly do not wish to find out where the elder learnt to do this, or how many test subjects it took him to perfect it._

_Hmm…_

_I will have to write more at a later date, someone is trying to hammer down my door. I am staying at an Inn at the moment, so it is probably that blasted Sylvia (or Sarah, or Saria, or Samantha - names allude me) woman with her books on Blood Magic. She seems to only turn up when I am writing this blasted Journal._

_- Rorek of Noll_

**

* * *

  
**

"Wake up. Wake up. Its time to destroy humanity!" The obviously humorous whispering voice in his ear was followed by a few muffled giggles of a distinctly female nature, which for some reason filled him with an immense feeling of dread.

Trying to figure out where he was, Rorek struggled to move around for a moment, before deducing he was tied up on something, keeping him from moving to a vertical position. His hands were tied above his head, and his legs stretched apart, giving him the impression he was tied in an X. To top that, his eyes were covered by a blindfold, and a gag had been forced awkwardly into his mouth through his scarf.

Not that covering his mouth would stop him speaking. He hadn't used his mouth to speak since… come to think of it, he had never used his mouth to speak. He couldn't even imagine doing it. But it was the principal of the thing that bothered him, someone was obviously trying to outdo him. Rorek frowned, and reached out with senses other than the normal Human ones, and was amazed at how prominent his kidnapper was in them. There, only a few feet away, was a girl extremely gifted in magic. He could feel the energy, flowing from her like heat from a light bulb.

The magic was strange, with an aura he had never felt before. Completely unlike Dark magic, which was detectable as you felt it try (in vain in his case) to break your mind in two. But also unlike Light Magic, which tended to cause warm tingles along the skin, and in large amounts undeserved feelings of righteousness in the unprepared (which often involved storming castles, burning 'witches', or attacking him for talking to local Women/Maidens/Princesses or Milkmaids).

This was completely unlike those two more common forms of magic, and indeed unlike any form of magic he had ever sensed. Nevertheless, it was still suitable to draw power from, and he immediately began jumpstarting his own recharge using the large amount she released carelessly. Adding to that he had regained in his sleep, it put him at around one tenth of his normal power. Enough to fight, provided he was easy on his injuries.

"You're quiet. Most people squirm a bit when I do this kind of thing." One hand stroked the skin by his eyes, and came dangerously close to pulling down the scarf which hid his face. "I wonder what's underneath this. I could have taken it off before…" She admitted. "But if you wear this, maybe that means you don't want people seeing what you look like." A lone finger stroked down, and poked underneath the black cloth, pulling it down the tiniest bit, exposing a sliver more of pale flesh. The Sorcerer moved his head away violently, wishing he had the power to simply blast his bindings from him. "So if you don't want it gone, it'd be way more fun to take it off when you know its being taken off." She whispered, so close he could feel her breath on him, in a voice which was unmistakably sadistic.

Whomever's company he had found himself in, it was highly likely they were several points below the mark designating sanity.

Rorek felt a (very) small amount of weight on his chest, and realized that she had straddled his torso.

"Get off of me now!" He growled angrily, his patience having run out. The gag and blindfold burst into flames, disappearing from existence at his command. He struggled against his bindings for a moment before realising they were nothing more than handcuffs made from a cheap inferior metal, and snapped them with little trouble. By this time the girl had already leapt off his chest only to stop on the other side of the room - standing confidently but with a confused look on her face.

She was definitely a witch. It was hard not to come to the conclusion with the appearance she kept. The girl had bright pink hair, brought up to defy gravity into two long horn like shapes. Her clothes consisted of a tiny black almost see through dress, the skirt of which was almost scandalously short. Her legs would have been totally visible, but for the odd net like socks she wore over them which extended from the bottom of her shoeless feet, past her dress. He got the distinct impression this was not her normal clothing, and it looked a lot more like she was dressing either for bed, or for carnal relations.

He did not wish for clarification on that.

Her skin was a pale greyish colour, similar to the other Witch he had met earlier, though unlike her or his own moonlight bleached skin her seemed to have the tiniest shade of violet mixed into it. However, he found his true focus came to her eyes. They were almost feline, it was impressive. As was the fact they were the same colour as her hair was, vibrant pink, an even rarer colour than his own milky blue eyes, even among magicians. The startling effect of her facial features was only increased at her smile, though perhaps 'grin' would have been a better word. The mere expression told him she was peculiar, disturbing, eccentric and likely downright evil - traits many of his previous colleagues had possessed, though never all at once.

In his mind, he debated what this aloof female had planned for him if he hadn't of broken out, especially considering the object he had been tied to was most certainly a bed. He once again considered her dress, and then considered if he truly should have broken out, before shaking the thought from his brain. He was not one to fall to petty lust, especially under such situations.

Rorek reached down to undo the handcuffs which held his legs to it's frame, and frowned as he saw they were inexplicable covered in a kind of fake pink fur, but instead decided it was not important to question. Forming a small ball of energy on his fingertip, he cut through them like they were nothing more than butter, the fur catching alight as he did so.

Standing up, he treated his kidnapper to a full on glare, sparks still crackling between his finger tips, more for effect than actual use. The girl continued to grin, and her hand glowed in purple in response.

"Chivalry dictates I should not attack a defenceless woman. But you are far from defenceless, aren't you?"

"Well if your gonna fight me, can we take this outside pretty boy? Blood stains furniture." The grin only widened, shadowed oddly by the purple light in her hand."Very well." Rorek scowled and gestured towards her with one glowing hand. The air in front of the girl exploded, blowing her cleanly through the brick wall and down to the streets four floors below.

"Hmph… that was too easy."

"Too easy? Do ya' think?!" The wizard jumped to the side, as a bolt of energy flew past him into the ceiling. Diving through the opening he found her unharmed but for a few scratches and some dust, already charging another blast ready to throw. Dodging and jumping behind a car, he sent a retaliatory shot back to stop her coming closer, but quickly realised after a few seconds of exchanging fire that was exactly what she wanted, likely why she suggested going outside. _'It seems most likely she is weak in hand to hand combat. Therefore, that is what I must engage her in it.' _Another blast flew over his head. _'Not here though, there is too much space for her to dodge.' _

Jumping out, he quickly ducked into an alleyway. Smiling despite the situation, it appeared his judgement had been completely correct. It was incredibly narrow, and full of things to hide behind. If she came in here, he would easily subdue her. Of course, his dodging ability was about as good as hers, so if she simply decided to fire at him, it was unlikely he would be able to get out of the way. Adding to the problem with this plan was the fact that she might be very much aware of her weakness, and stay out of the alley altogether.

After a seconds more thought Rorek abandoned the alley floor and leapt to the left building's rooftop high above, using the narrow alley walls to spring himself upwards, delighting at his re-healing leg's performance. Making sure he was located near the entrance where the girl was likely to show up, the wizard then ducked down, watching what would unfold below.

"You can't get away from me you know." The girl raised a hand, expressionless for a change, and blew the surrounding walls apart, sending masonry down on the area he had been in only seconds before.

The Witch cautiously crept forward, trying to find some evidence she had killed him. She was not prepared however, when a strong arm wrapped around her throat and lifted her backwards. A mane of white hair tickled her cheek, and she instantly struggled against the iron grip as both her hands were taken in only one of his, secured around her back.

"I was not trying to." He answered her earlier statement. She growled before bringing one leg back, and hitting him in his own injured leg by chance. Rorek gritted his teeth, but held firm.

"Oh? Did that hurt?" She asked in a mock innocent voice, and immediately stopped struggling. Instead concentrating on her legwork, she brought her heel into the same place repeatedly, and with every one she felt her captors muscle's tense slightly.

"I could snap your neck right now." Rorek grunted.

"You haven't. Don't you know chivalry is dead?" She taunted, having guessed the reason and continuing her attack. Her kicks began to falter however when she felt a warm liquid on her foot and calf. Further investigation showed it to be copious amounts of blood, and not hers. "Your bleeding." She stated, with none of the malice her earlier speech had shown.

Fighting was fine, to the death if she had to. But looking at him now, with his ragged breath and seeping wounds, she really didn't want to attack him anymore. Besides, she had spent time bandaging those wounds, even if they seemed worse than she had thought, and just making them bleed again would have meant her time was wasted.

"I know." Rorek spat back. Originally he had been expecting her to submit, but obviously this was not going to happen. Admitting temporary defeat, he leapt backwards as best he could, favouring the ever more annoying injury he held.

The witch took a moment to catch her breath, before turning back on her attacker, obviously injured.

"I think I win." She taunted again, though not with much heart. She could see he was fighting with a serious injury, and from the looks of him who could know what others he had stashed around him. Fighting was fine, but fighting someone like this was just unsporting. He did not recognize the well hidden sympathy in her voice however, and what expression she could see was a frown.

"I have tired of this. Chivalry or not, surrender or die." He brought his hand up, and began to charge a spell. Unlike his normal bolts, this one was not white, instead it was red. And where the others were mostly solid looking, this crackled wildly, like he was holding barely restrained lighting. To the girl he looked far more threatening than he had before, and she instantly regretted pitying him. Despite the injury, his stance was firm and confident, and the parts of his face she could see severe. It was obvious enough he had no qualms about carrying out his death threat.

"Let me think…" The sarcastic comment hid a small amount of worry, as she really was trying to calculate her next move, or anticipate his. "Well…on the one hand your little spell looks pretty dangerous. But it also looks like its really hard to hold together." She said, smirking.

"It is, however it will keep until it cuts you in two."

"It would be really unlucky, if say… it exploded." Her own hand was brought up, purple glowing in it. "Maybe I should make it." She thought aloud, confident in her victory.

"I wouldn't." The wizard told her, his eyes narrowing.

"And why not, whitey?"

"Because if this explodes, it would explode in the direction it is pointing. I would suffer minor damage, perhaps a few broken bones at worst (of which I have quite the collection). You on the other hand would be reduced to ashes."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed." Rorek said, before following through with his bluff perfectly. "You are quite free to try however…" He offered, as the slightly bemused girl shook her head.

"How about we call this a draw and I'll forgive you for blowing a hole in my wall for no reason." She finally said, her voice sounding almost like she was doing him a huge favour even considering the deal.

"No reason? You attempted to kidnap and imprison me." He pointed out. "Albeit poorly, but all the same-"

"I did not kidnap or imprison you!!" The girl interrupted hotly. "Well… ok. I did imprison you, I'll give you that much. But I was gonna let you go, you should have figured it wasn't serious! It was only furry handcuffs, no guy even tries to escape from them!"

"Um… why?" Rorek found himself asking. She looked at him like he was a moron.

"OK, that's it. Weird clothes, strange accent, creepy echoing voice thing, and you don't know about furry handcuffs? You're definitely not from around here."

"Correct." Still slightly guarded, Rorek extinguished the spell burning in his right hand. He didn't have nearly enough energy to use it safely anyway, it was far more a bluff than a useful weapon at the moment. And it had worked. "If I may ask, if you did not kidnap me, why did I awake in your residence?"

"I found you asleep all beaten up near a bank I was going to rob. So being the kind and caring person I was, I brought you back here to rest." She answered, putting her chin up in the air to emphasize her the purity of her goal. The wizard frowned for a minute, as he noticed the now bloodstained dressings on his wounds that he moronically not considered beforehand.

"Why?" _'And how on Earth did you manage to drag me here?' _He added mentally.

"Because I'm nice!" She said far too loudly, and with a far-too-wide grin on her face.

"I don't believe you." He informed her calmly.

"What? It's the truth, I found you-" She protested before he interrupted."No, I believe that part. I do not believe you are nice." He said, getting an angry stare for his remark.

"Look, are you gonna take the draw or not?" She asked angrily. He was really beginning to piss her off. She had gotten to the bank ready for a night of fun, found him sleeping outside and on a rare moment of conscience she had taken him home. But when she had finally gotten around to seeing what he looked like under that mask, he leapt up and attacked her! It was just like the instructors at H.I.V.E. had always told them, do a good deed for nothing and it'll come back and bite you in the ass (admittedly the original language was somewhat more scholarly, but that's what it came down to).

"I will accept your draw." He answered.

"Good." Even though it was a tie, she gave a face like she had won. "Now you can help fix my wall.""What?" He asked flatly.

"You broke it, you fix it." Rorek turned to the brick he had destroyed and sighed. It was fair, when all was said and done. Even if she had not had the best intentions, she had still offered her home to him, and he had responded by blowing a part of it up.

"You are very lucky the energy taken to fix this is less than the energy required to burn the flesh from your bones." Of course, he wasn't going to admit he had been in the wrong.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Whitey. Just get out of here when you're done. It's pretty damn late." She began to walk away, waving one hand over her head at him, before stopping and turning with a thoughtful gaze. Rorek's eyebrow went up as she looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Hey… what would you say to a place to stay?" His former captor almost purred, giving the sweetest smile she could.

"I would say 'Please stand in front of me, if this female does not go for my throat, I am certain she will go for my testicles. You being an inanimate object will cope with this a lot better than I.' Rorek responded flatly.

This signalled the first of many slaps Rorek would receive before the day was out.

* * *

Raven rolled her eyes as yet another lead failed to pay up, wandering if the others were having the same luck. The description 'strangely dressed albino with makeup' had brought her back to the same district four times already, and she was beginning to suspect that the abundance of Discos, nightclubs and very… masculine looking 'women' meant this was not the haunt of an escaped Dragon, and more likely the Red Light District for the City's more… colourful population.

'_No use.' _She thought to herself, floating upwards to the rooftops to escape the drunken club-goers below. _'I can't find him like this.'_

Raven could have used her powers to try and track him a while ago, but had refrained from it, knowing her opponent was telepathic. To try and track a powerful telepath alone was foolish enough, it was only because she knew how weak he was she did it at all, but to use their own magic speciality when yours was in another field was beyond stupid. Nevertheless, she had run out of options. Jump City was not a small place, and in the time she left him he could get anywhere in, or even out of it.

Making sure she had a semi-comfortable place to sit and concentrate, she was surprised that the constant chatter below was hardly noticeable, since the building was tall enough to be quite far from them. All the better for what she was about to do.

As the cold wind whipped around her (closely drawn in) cloak, she looked out and began to imagine his form in her mind. It was not hard. She could not possibly forget what he looked like, the one who had broken her heart.

No. This was neither the time nor the place to dwell on such thoughts. She would deal with him like every other criminal they chased. They would chase him, possible cause thousands of dollars in damages, and then throw him to the Metahuman recovery teams (who would likely put him in an extremely high security Meta-Prison).

She tried again. Imagining what little of his face she had seen, his clothes, his body structure. Even his voice, which was admittedly slightly different from what she remembered. But then, he had somehow gained a fully Human form, how similar could she expect him to sound with such a small body compared to the huge one of a Dragon?

A part of her regretted not bringing Rorek's Magical Book, but it was only a very small part. If he had already managed to escape once, it meant he could easily do it again, so the book was useless as a prison. Besides, a Human body had to be easier to defeat than a Dragon's. It was likely they could stop him without even bothering with the ancient Wizard's curse now, and if not it wouldn't take long for her to prepare it, perhaps even bolster it with a few of her own.

'_Curious, someone is attempting to track me?' _The suddenly mocking voice broke her out of her thoughts, as it invaded her senses. Echoing around her like it truly was there, instead of being sent to her mind. Raven tried in vain to break the connection between them as the world around her seemed to fall apart, the dull grey rooftop being replaced by deep black nothingness.

As quickly as the voice had appeared the area had turned to dark blank space, where she was left to float freely. Unable to escape the illusion, despite knowing her physical body had not moved at all.

"_Oh, so it is you who was tracking me?' _She swung around, her gaze meeting the figure who floated only a few metres away, watching her. She had to fight the urge not to try and attack him, knowing he was not truly present._ "I did not expect you would attempt to follow me further."_

"Of course I'm going to follow you." She told him, her voice leaving its neutral zone and approaching anger. "My friends and I won't stop until you're either defeated or locked back in your book, where you belong."

"_Oh really?" _He sounded expectantly angry. _"I would ask why you would embark on such a pointless endeavour, but to question it is equally pointless. You -" _He gestured to her with one hand, a careless wave akin to someone swatting a fly. _"Would be unable to do either. Even with the help of your bizarre little friends." _

"You won't get away with this." She told him darkly, only to meet a cold but confused look.

"_And what is it exactly you believe I have set out to do, oh Maiden?" _He asked, in genuine curiosity.

"Just escaping is enough for me." She growled. Her anger came less from his words however, and more from frustration. He was communicating with her telepathically, she should have been able to sense something, anything, that would give her a clue to his whereabouts. But every time she searched she got a blank. "We'll find you, and then you'll find yourself in a prison so big you'll think that book was pleasant."

"_Oh really? That is a shame." _His expression turned darker. _"I would have thought perhaps I would have kept some of the recognition I gained so long ago. Apparently not if such a young woman would speak to me so angrily."_

"Recognition? You mean infamy, don you?"

"_There was some of that too. I would warn you though, girl. I have had decades to practise my magic. You will not win if we clash."_

Raven had to stop herself from saying 'Good always triumphs over evil..' The line was far too overused for her to say it.

"_It does, does it?" _The wizard asked, looking down at her with an air of superiority as she realised he had read her mind again. _"We shall see, though I do wish you would not refer to me as evil."_

"I read the Journal. That's all a creature like you is." Raven said it quietly, but there was weight to her words as she accused what she thought was a Dragon. The astral projection watched her curiously, his eyes fixing to hers questioningly.

"_I see. So that is your belief is it?" _He did not wait for an answer. _"Very well, I shall crush you no matter what you affix to me." _Rorek was no longer joking, an instant dislike had spread of this woman. She seemed so at odds with what his first impression of her, overly hostile and quick to judge when she had seemed so calm and thoughtful, and certainly when he had rumbled through her mind he had felt the darkness there. So why did she keep to such restrictive labelling? He was keen to find out, but not so much he would stay longer.

Raven watched as he began to fade in front of her and tried all she could to keep him in the link, still hoping to get a trace of where he was. It was pointless though, he was powerful and her own powers were being thrown out of whack by the (very deserved) anger she felt towards him.

"I'll find you eventually, you can't run." The empath told the empty back space, as it began to morph back into the rooftops of before.

"_I only run to extend the hunt my dear, but you are certainly not my prey. I hunt bigger game." The voice was no louder than a whisper, but she heard it. _

_For a few minutes she simply stood, and went over what had happened. Then, she smirked. A tiny, grim looking look, which nevertheless showed a tiny flicker of determination._

_Raven got up and prepared to fly back to the tower. She was sure he would confront her eventually, and when he did, she would make sure he got hell for his trouble. There was more than a few tricks she had stored about the place, and when he came she'd show them all._

_

* * *

  
_

_Definitely having trouble writing Raven, though I'm sure it will get better as I go along and she stops being so emotional (it has to happen to make sense I'm afraid). Jinx by comparison is pretty easy, I can do her as frickin' insane, and I think I'm pretty good at that. _

_If anyone has tips for writing Raven I'd love to hear 'em._


End file.
